End of Summer To-Do's.

Take Shamus to the dentist.
Take Shamus to the pediatrician.
Choose the baby's pediatrician.
Go to WIC. 
Throw a baby party. 
37 week OB appointment. 
39 week OB appointment.
Have Chance make Joe a birthday gift. 
Pack a bag for the hospital.
Get DMV sorted out.
Fancify shoe rack.
Find sling, changing table pad, pump parts, baby swing.
Hang a diaper line.
Install a diaper sprayer. (J's working on it)
Buy clothespins.
Make invitations for Chance's birthday.
Display kids' artwork. 
Hang shelves in my room.
Paint/ organize my night stand.
Clear off the top of both of our dressers.
Organize my shoes,
(Purge at least three pairs).
Frame the pile of loose prints. (need more frames)
Embroider something.
Paint kitchen cupboards.

"Freedom"

No more summer school. Ahhhhh.
Which frees up all my time for driving practice.
Nothing makes me feel more dangerous and carefree than getting in my.. minivan. The wind in my hair. All my children fighting in the backseat. Mmmmmhmmm.

Saturday was my Papa's birthday. We slept in, the kids made him a very cute birthday card while I sleepily drank coffee. I went upstairs to do my hair and returned to find they'd made him fifteen more while I'd been gone. We are officially out of glitter construction paper. It was ridiculous.

Had a nice lunch at my favorite Benicia restaurant, visited with him and my aunt, went to the park, dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, followed by Batman at the drive-in. Sunday we had breakfast at Rudy's, naps followed by greasy cheeseburgers, and driving practice on Treasure Island. Pasta with meat sauce and garlic bread for dinner and I fell asleep at a fairly early hour, with a very kick-happy Shamus in bed next to me. Great weekend. Happy with the amount of time the family's all getting to spend together, the dinners I'm somehow finding the energy to cook that we then all eat together. That's the stuff I enjoy when I'm out of school.

Lots of changes coming, lots of stuff to do before our party this weekend, but I'm looking forward to it all.

35 weeks along-

(In my head I look more like this)

Flashback Friday. (#1)

The Pre-Shamus days. Hard to remember there was a time it was just Chance, James, and I. And the quivering mass of belly, of course.

Keeping busy.. Tiny diapers everywhere and my Summer To-Do List is (very) slowly shrinking. Week and a half until our BBQ, Fall semester starts two weeks after that. And a little less than two weeks after THAT is my due date. Though, with my track record, I'm not expecting to go on maternity leave until September 14th. When I look at it like that, it still feels awfully far off, eh?

Our Own.

Everyone in the family's now back from our five days apart. Shamus and James drove to Washington for a friend's wedding. (After weighing the pros and cons of my going, I decided to play it safe and stay home). They had a great time and I've been enjoying seeing all the cute photos of them through FB tags.

Chance and I spent the five days in Benicia (my hometown) hanging out with my Papa. Walks with the dog to the beach, various park trips, lunch at Pirate, dinner at my favorite Chinese place.. It was very restful. Also, unpleasantly hot. It's much nicer here in Oakland, temperature-wise. I brought the camera but didn't take any pictures while we were there. Do have some random snaps from the week before/ few days after the trip. Progress on Belly Watch.

I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow. Hard to believe.

My Night @ Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School.

I was over the moon excited months ago when I was asked to pose for Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School East Bay. Then venue problems ensued and it looked like it wasn't going to happen anymore. Dr. Sketchy's SF decided to take on the event instead and saved the day!

Was I nervous about posing for a room full of artist-strangers while eight months pregnant? A little, but I've been dying to do one of these for a couple years now (most of my friends have had the pleasure and raved about how fun it was), so I wasn't going to let a little, er, puffiness dissuade me. No, sir.  Couldn't be happier I did it. The other, also very pregnant, girl and I took turns which made it a lot easier physically. I also tried to choose poses that I could keep comfortably for long periods of time. The last pose we did was for a twenty minute stretch. I'm very impressed that people can do several of those, even in a non-pregnant state.

Slowly the sketches and paintings are started to pop up online. They are so beautiful. Also, Johnny was on hand to snap lots of pictures of us while we got our pinup pose on. It's not easy to get cute preggy photos, so I'm glad he's been there to capture what is most definitely my last (and favorite) pregnancy.

Vintage Stroller Po*n.

Our living room looks like Baby World exploded inside of it. J marveled this week that we don't even have the baby yet and we've already been consumed by all the baby paraphernalia. I look at it and instantly become overwhelmed, but then my eye lands on the thing right in the middle of the mountain and I smile again. How can you not?

It's mid-to-late sixties. Aside from a good thorough cleaning and some little fixing up (half the balls on the trim are missing and the trim itself could use replacing), it's perfection. Had my heart set on a vintage stroller this time around. I fell head over heels for this red chrome 1950's heart-stopper at the Treasure Island Flea Market a few weeks ago, didn't buy it, and have been suffering with remorse ever since. So when I found another one that elicited that kind of feeling, I just pulled the trigger. This one was cheaper, is a much lighter weight, and is just as special, so I suppose everything worked out as it was meant to. Also, it comes apart and folds up, though J pointed out that, as everything in that era is, it is incredibly "pinchy".

An example of the one that got away. (This is its twin, for sale in Gilroy..) I'm not sure which brand mine is, but the red ones are Welsh Co.

Dinosaurs.

I feel like there are dinosaurs covering every inch of my house. After all the birthday fun was over, we had to find a place for them all. We had a lot of toys my kids are "too old for" or just never play with anymore so I filled a box with them, labeled it "Toys For Baby", and decided they can live in the attic for the next nine months until we're ready to love them again. That's the art of kids' toys- When you add, you must take away.

I suspect that's the only particularly productive thing I've done this week. I spend my mornings lounging in my fuzzy pink robe with my mug, my afternoons plotting what new thing I'm going to try to cook for dinner, and my evenings staring at the classroom clock and wishing I was home instead. My reserves of second-trimester energy are all gone now. J and I are trying to go out together as much as we can before the baby is born and everything erupts into chaos. Last night we went to Macabaret. I'm loving the excuses to put on lipstick and dresses (and spend time together too, duh). It's getting more challenging these last two weeks. For one, I have basically three "dress up" outfits that still fit me. Secondly, the next day I'm a puddle of a person, so I'm trying to save the date nights for things we really, desperately want to go to. There's still a few of those left between now and D-Day, whenever that blessed event decides to arrive.

What A Week.

Monday was Shamus' actual birthday.  Highlights included baking chocolate chip cookies and watching VHS. We let him open his presents from us. He got an amazingly detailed Peter Pan pop-up book, a Brave Merida doll (his choice), and some assorted Playmobil pieces J picked out. It was low-key and cheerful. Just my scene.

Tuesday was Dr. Sketchy's (and Leftover Crack). I don't have a single picture from that yet, aside from some quick digi snaps I took seconds before I ran out the door. I wasn't sure I was going to make it from SF back to Oakland in time to go with James to see them play, but it all worked out perfectly and we got there together with time to spare. Love when things work out.. I have terrible luck, seems like more times than not they go horribly wrong when I try to double book an evening like that.

Spent a lot of the week between Tuesday and Saturday cooking, crafting, and cleaning. It takes me a lot longer to be party-ready now. I have to take a lot of breaks, seems like. It all came together in the end. There was a small moment of panic about an hour before the party when I felt completely exhausted and ready for a nap that I told James, "I can't do this! I JUST WANT TO TAKE A NAAAAAP!". Don't know what I'd do without my awesome support team.

The actual party was lovely. On the small side. We're having a party for the baby in August so I tried to invite the majority of people we know to that instead. Little nervous about how it'll be entertaining when I'm nine months pregnant (Eight isn't easy!) but the fact that it'll be a potluck takes some of the pressure off me. I just want to lie on a chaise lounge in repose while people put deviled eggs directly into my mouth. Is that so much to ask? Perhaps all the fertility goddess posing this week has gone to my head.

Improving.

Proud to say J and I are finally finishing some of our little house projects, starting with a shelf in the kids' room. I like that they have a place to display their lunch box collection when they're not playing with them. I'm very into the idea that every toy should have its own place. Doing this has made their room look a lot less frightening and clean up time a lot less stressful.

Baby nook is almost finished. Needs crib sheets (I've got blue and green left over from Shamus, but I've got my heart set on yellow and can't find them anywhere), some filler for the empty frames, maybe a tie back for the curtains, but it's getting there.

Fun times in our house. Chance's interests finally (!!!) seem to be shifting. After two years of refusing to talk about anything non-Transformers, he's become obsessed with dinosaurs. I think it happened after James let them watch Jurassic Park. He talks about dinosaurs, reads books about dinosaurs, begs me to keep buying more dinosaurs. Even our macaroni and cheese is shaped like dinosaurs. Guess what his birthday theme is? Oh, yes. DINOSAURS. I may sound annoyed but I'm not. Just relieved we're onto the next phase.